[Answered] What is Information Ethics? Discuss its significance in present times.

Information ethics is concerned with ethical, legal and societal aspects of using information and information and communication technologies. The principles on which information ethics are based derive from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and include the right to freedom of expression, universal access to information,  the right to education, the right to privacy and the right to participate in cultural life.

Promoting values and principles based on fundamental human rights is central for the development of an equitable information society. The impact of emerging technologies on the daily lives of citizens cannot be underestimated as more and more people around the world interact with information and communication technology and generate and acquire information.

Significance of Information Ethics in present times:

• Privacy and security: The growth of information technology creates issues like its enhanced capacity for surveillance, computation, storage, and retrieval. A more dangerous threat is the increased value of information in decision-making. E.g. China’s reported use of technologies for surveillance in Xinjiang province.
• Access right: E-commerce and Electronic payment systems evolution on the internet heightened this issue for various corporate organizations and government agencies. Network on the internet cannot be made secure from unauthorized access.
• Cyber-risks:  Cyber-risks have increased with increased penetration of the internet. To prevent misuse of the information and data, it is important to follow information ethics in dealing with someone’s information.
• Digital piracy: Illegal downloading has also caused some ethical concerns and raised the question whether digital piracy is equivalent to stealing or not.
• Copyright issues: This type of breach could be the mishandling and misuse of data, computer programs and similar material. In many countries, copyright legislation is amended or revised to provide explicit laws to protect computer programs.
• Accountability: Concerns arise like who is responsible for the authenticity, fidelity and accuracy of information and who is to be held accountable for errors in information.
• Social media: Increasing advent of social media, fake news, hate speeches demand public servant to follow information ethics and put efforts to curb any act which is harmful to larger public.

Information ethics could make the organization become more successful by determining the right and wrong of an individual action. But, it depends on the situation that is faced by the people. Therefore, with ethics, information technology can avoid unethical actions like unauthorized access, disturbing people privacy hacking the information etc.